OK TDC

B

bids

Guest
Mandrake 7.2 - piss easy to install and set up, and rock solid too. :)
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
whee :) I really can't believe I missed this post last night heh. anyway here goes:

firstly, before I start a long ramble, I have to stress that there is no 'distro A vs. distro B' in my view of Linux. In the three years I've been using Linux what has struck me hardest was the phrase "Use your favourite..." as in text-editor, desktop, Linux-distro, whatever.

At home I use two [very different] distro's installed on three pc's. These are SlackWare [7] and RedHat [7.0], with kernel 2.4.2 [cos I am a version freak :)]
I setteled on the two I use after trying several different versions of several distributions. Of all the ones I have used, I like SlackWare the best. It just 'feels' right. RedHat I use because, like Bids comments on Mandrake, it is indeed nice to have an 'easy to install and configure' distribution around, and it is indeed 'rock solid' :)

I'm very glad Linux was getting a large amount of limelight in the last two years or so, this is easy to spot in the latest versions of the distributions. A major amount of hardware has been added [driver wise] and companys like http://www.lokigames.com have really cranked up the gaming end like you wouldn't believe. The people at Sun have released their StarOffice to the open-source community as OpenOffice. The multinationals like IBM, HP, Sun and many others support Linux 24x7.

Now, to finally answer your question...there is no single 'best' linux distro, there is 'the one _you_ like best'.
If one was starting a venture into Linux, I'd reccomend using one of the 'easier' distros like Suse, Mandrake or RedHat. They are very, very complete and can do anything you want them to. Be aware that one becomes an instant newbie again, and [at least for me] that can be a shock :)
For the curious, my personal fave distro is SlackWare.


-tdc
 
E

Embattle

Guest
TBH I'll only get it to have a little play around with ;)
 
P

Perplex

Guest
I used slackware yeeeaaarrrss ago, and loved it. I'm in the middle of setting up a nix box...Slackware 7.1 it is :)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Think I might repartition my drive and keep W2K Pro as my main OS and use Linux for fun purposes.
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Well I thought that Mandrake was one of the best and got it today so I'll move my backup stuff off the D: partition and wipe it. Create the Linux partition in the 10GB of space that I get back.
 
P

Perplex

Guest
Hmmm, put the nix box on hold :( Need to wait until IBM start selling 100gb drives, so I can shift my mp3s onto it, and reclaim a hdd out of this machine. My spare hdd that I was gonna use, had a slight accident with the cat and a rather full can of cola :O(
 
E

Embattle

Guest
LOL

I nearly shit bricks when I couldn't get W2K Pro in come up in LILO......*oh no*.

Well its in control now....and much like you perplex I will need another drive in the future so that one drive has W2K Pro on and the other has Linux.
 
E

Embattle

Guest
I too could fill up a HD with MP3's but since I've got the original CDs there is no need to :)
 
P

Perplex

Guest
heh, got about 20 gigs of mp3s, and the original CDs/vinyls to about 14 gigs of it. The other 6 gigs are miscellaneous singles I've grabbed, that I would never pay for in my right mind ;)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Think I may install a second spare HD I've got lying around here......then reinstall Linux on it and keep the bigger one for W2K Pro.
 
P

Perplex

Guest
I would. I hate running multiple OSs on a single HDD. More hassle short, and long term than it's worth
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
Originally posted by Perplex
heh, got about 20 gigs of mp3s, and the original CDs/vinyls to about 14 gigs of it. The other 6 gigs are miscellaneous singles I've grabbed, that I would never pay for in my right mind ;)
Click to expand...

hey you could easily set up a 'streaming media' server and listen to your jukebox via a plentitude of client software :)
after all, if you've got it why not use it :D


btw, Emb, hows it working? I hope all is running well :)
 
E

Embattle

Guest
Not bad...got to find time to sort the PC out and then sort both OSes again....going to France on Saturday so thats out.....hmm maybe I'll nick the bigger HD out of my Sisters comp.

TDC if I install it as Workstation is it possible to get access to all the Server functions?

Oh I must find out how to connect to the net without having to go into drake :)
 
A

Atomic Rammer

Guest
You can make your life much easier if u have 1 hd by using the dos loadlin program.

I got an icon on my desktop, I double click on it and it boots linux. It dont mess about with boot records or anything. Much less risky for using linux and win together.

Check out loadlin here:
http://www.suse.de/en/support/download/ftp/
 
E

Embattle

Guest
TBH I'd prefer keeping them on there own HDs :)
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
Not bad...got to find time to sort the PC out and then sort both OSes again....going to France on Saturday so thats out.....hmm maybe I'll nick the bigger HD out of my Sisters comp.
hehe j00 evil person :)

TDC if I install it as Workstation is it possible to get access to all the Server functions?
sure Emb, no problem. it works like this: installing as a 'server', 'workstation' or 'custom' influences the programs installed and activated on boot-time. thus, if one were to install as a 'workstation' and you wanted a webserver running as well, all you would have to do is install it, and configure it to run at startup. Linux is not like [par example] NT, that is very different from server to workstation. Linux just runs, and what you install is your own business :)

Oh I must find out how to connect to the net without having to go into drake :)
this I don't quite get. can you elaborate?


good luck :)

-tdc
 
E

Embattle

Guest
HEHEHE - I'll just tell her she don't need it and offer a faster processor alternative :)

Basically I have to go to the bit where you can setup the DNS/Login name/Password but instead of setting up another one I click connect and then open the broswer. This is a pain as I always have to enter the root password.
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
hmm that's strange. you are using mandrake right? I'm not familiar with that distro but I'll have a look at their sites to see if I can help.

mebbeh Bids has an idea?

-tdc
 
E

Embattle

Guest
I'll do a little more cunting and try and find another way.
 
B

bids

Guest
My setup on Mandrake is a lot simpler - gateway is set up as the cable modem connected machine and everything works sweet :)

My guess with Emb's problem is that the permissions are not set up to access KPPP (?) with the user you are logging in as.

Quick workaround would be to set up a new user and give it administrator priviliges and membership of all groups - see if that solves the problem.

Might be talking bollocks, 'cause I don't use dial-up under Linux.

Worth a try though.
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
Originally posted by bids
My setup on Mandrake is a lot simpler - gateway is set up as the cable modem connected machine and everything works sweet :)
Click to expand...

exactly. mine is the same, and indeed all is sweet.
Emb, as Bids says, it might just be a question of finding the executable that starts your PPP connection and assigning the user you login as the right to run it.

something along the lines of [as root] 'chmod +x pppd' -or- 'chmod 755 pppd' where [pppd] is the exe
 
E

Embattle

Guest
I'll give it a go but I think cable will be different since its a pern connection.
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
too right.
My home setup is like that. Tho everything is Linux, the important box is the firewall because this one has to do wierd stuff. Ie. getting the 'outside' IP via DHCP, running the firewall ruleset and doing the NAT.
All [there are two] the 'inside' boxes have the 'inside' IP on the firewall configured as 'gateway'.
schweet :D
 
B

bids

Guest
TDC - just as a matter of interest - wot firewall you using ?

Tried Smoothwall, but didn't get on with it much. Using Wingate on an old 98 box at the mo - but would prefer to go to Linux firewall for stability ;)

Isn't your cable NAT'ed anyways ? You using IPChains ?
Usng DHCP from Linux firewall ?
 
T

Testin da Cable

Guest
well, I use an old pc that I've fitted with the nic that I got from my cable ISP and one of my own [this one is on the inside].
The OS is RedHat Linux that has been stripped down to it's bare essentials. As the script I use requires 'iptables' I use a kernel>2.4.0 [2.4.1 in this case, compiled with all firewall/masq/NAT functions enabled]. The script is the [imho] cool 'gShield' by godot. Look here http://muse.linuxmafia.org/gshield.html for more info.
I modified the script to better suit my needs [needed some extra port-forwarding capabilities]. I really gotta tell godot about that tho :)
The script is basicly a rule-set run at boot-time that tells the built-in kernel firewall what to do, and it also handles masq and NAT. Very cool :D
DHCP is handled by 'pump' that works pretty well. The firewall script has a special rule for allowing/dissallowing dhcp requests so all is cool :D
All inside boxes use the 'inside' nic on the firewall as gateway, and because of the NAT and masq all external communication appears to originate from the firewall so I am free to do whatever I want on the 'internal' network :D
 
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